Army Researchers Find an Ebola Cure. But it Might Only Save Themselves

One of the world’s deadliest pathogens, which gives its victims a gruesomely bloody exit, might finally be contained. After decades of unsuccessful research, a collaboration based out of the Army’s labs at Fort Detrick, Maryland has devised an experimental injection that cures the Ebola virus by targeting its genetic material.

The injection uses a novel technique, called RNA interference, to stop viral cells from replicating. Scientists packaged RNA snippets into particles that were then injected into four rhesus monkeys, who’d been infected with a dose of Ebola that was 30,000 times more potent than the virus’ most lethal strain, which already has a measly 10 percent survival rate. The snippets latched onto key viral proteins, and cured all four monkeys after a week of daily injections.

“Over the past decade, we have evaluated numerous therapeutic approaches for the treatment of lethal viruses, such as Ebola,” the study’s co-author, Dr. Lisa E. Hensley, said. “None of them have conferred complete protection to Ebola virus-infected primates—until now.”

The study of dangerous pathogens, like Ebola, is tricky. Because cures for the exotic viruses are so rare, researchers are anxious to make progress. But that same dearth of treatment options means that even a carefully monitored lab experiment can pose a fatal threat.

That’s why the Army’s got a vested interest in curbing the potentially lethal exposures of researchers and scientists to deadly pathogens. Last year, a German scientist was quarantined for 8 days after accidentally sticking herself with an Ebola infected needle, and similar incidents have occurred in the U.S and Russia. And that’s only Ebola: just last year, the USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) labs — the same facilities doing this study — were temporarily shut down because of problems keeping tabs on microbes and biomaterials.

Exposures caused by lab mishaps might actually be the most feasible targets for the new method. Right now, the Ebola shot can only work if it’s administered within 30 minutes — an impracticality among civilian populations, but a viable possibility within a research facility.

“To wait for the next incident to happen in a high-containment laboratory before any progress takes place seems intolerable,” Heinz Feldmann, a virologist with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, writes in a commentary accompanying the study. “We also urgently need to improve outbreak support and go beyond transmission control, and actually provide specific care for aﬀected individuals, which should be an ethical obligation for all of us.”

For now, scientists are focused on demonstrating the proof-of-concept study in more animal trials, before even moving onto human subjects. But the method, if successful, could also have widespread applications in treating other viral agents.